Camera



Feb. 13, 1962 A. C. MUELLER 3,020,814

CAMERA Filed June 8, 1959 10 Sheets-Sheet 1 27 2 /z for.' @79% zn Wye/Ier CAMERA A. c. MUELLER Feb. 13, 1962 A. c. MUELLER 3,020,814

CAMERA Filed June 8. 1959 l0 Sheets-Sheet 3 FB Maw/@flier 13W/ #E Feb. 13, 1962 A. c. MUELLER CAMERA l0 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 8, 1959 in s1 [III Feb. 13, 1962 A. c. MUELLER 3,020,814

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Feb. 13, 1962 A. c. Mul-:LLER 3,020,814

' CAMERA Filed June 8, 1959 l0 Sheets-Sheet 7 El fe?? for; @frfur Waal/er Feb. 13, 1962 A. c. MUELLER CAMERA l0 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed June 8, 1959 A Wr f mre/M Mv lulu.

Feb. 13, 1962 A. c. MUELLER CAMERA l0 Sheets-Sheet 9 Filed June 8, 1959 .mmm uw j I .a mwN /V/ IIIIJI/ KNIT.: l MF v \l r 4/fl .l I/ l Mv @QQ UW 51 j www /wmw A. C. MUELLER Feb. 13, 1962 Filed June 8, 1959 Enjl,

f-enzfor; Mrfur a Mlle/[e7 Uy /fmmy i I 3,020,814 CAMERA Arthur C. Mueller, Maine Township, Cook County, Ill.,

assignor to Bell & Howell corporation of Illinois Filed June 8, 1959,' Ser. No. 818,619 2 Claims. (Cl. 95-11.5)

Company, Chicago, Ill., a

Further' objects and features of-"th'e -inventionmay'bef obtained from the rfollowingl'detailed description of a`- camera forming a specific embodiment thereof, -r when4 read in conjunction with theV appended drawings', in which:

FIG.l isa vertical sectional view of aoamera forming one embodiment of they invention;

FIG. 2 `is a vertical sectional-"view taken 2 2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a khorizontal sectional view takenralong line 3-3 of FIG. 1;`

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, tion` view of a shutterkassembly and combined film-v along'l partially sectionalside eleva- States Patent C ice manual actuation of the film transport mechanism, and as the front blade comes to a position covering the light path, the front blade actuates the flash latch to allow the contact to be moved back into the path of the front blade in its next actuating stroke. Behind the shutter unit vthere preferably is provided a compartmentizing wall u having an aperture in the light path and a safety shutter blade on the mounting plate and adapted to be swung by the shutter actuator away from the aperture. A removable bottom cover carries a spool holder and film .frame thereon which is adjustable relative to the bottom plate to precisely locate the iilm in focus. Preferably there is provided a turning knob on the bottom plate pressing against a spring arm of a hook latch to move the hook latch over a pin on'the wall of the camera to secure the bottom plate to the camera.

vReferring now in detail to the drawings, the camera shown'therein includes a generally cup-shaped front casing member 20" rsecured to a verticalcompartmen'tizing wall'or partition 21-of cast metal by `screws 22 (FIG. l)

I to lforma" closed` shutter andexposure control compart- 'ment ,23.

A .rear casingmemberf24 of cast metal lits 'around' a ledge 21a on the partition to form a light trap therewith, the front casing member forming'a rlight trap with a ledge 2lb. A viewfinder tunnel br casing 15 of .plasticis cup-shaped and fits against and over the easing members 20; 21 and 24 and is secured thereto by screws windingand shutter resetting mechanism Yofthe camera I shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a rear elevation view of the the shutter assembly;

FIG. 6 isa fragmentary, top plan view of the bottom cover and spool holder of the camera shown in FIG. 1 n

with portion thereof broken away;

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view taken 7`7 of FIG. 6; n

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view of the camera taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 2r illustrating the kshutter in 4a cocked or reset position; f

along line FIG. 9 s a view similar to FIG. 8 and illustrating the shutter during an intermediate pointin its operation;

FIG. vl0 is a view similar to FIGS. 8 yand 9 and illustrating theshutter at the end of its operation but before' the manual actuator has ybeen released;

FIG. 1l is a view similar to FIG. 10 after the manuali actuator has been released; y A

FIG. l2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical sectional view taken along line`1212 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 13 is a fragmentary bottom planv view of they camera shown in FIG. 1; and

, FIG. 14 is a partially sectional viewjof the manual actuating mechanism of the camera shown in FIG. r1. o

"The invention provides a camera having a shuttery assembly unit including va mounting plate carrying an overcenter shutter mechanism andremovably mounted on the framey of the camera. The shutter mechanism has a front blade and a rear blade mounted pivotally on the mountingfplate and interconnected yby an overcenter spring, and a spring pressed actuating and resetV lever is coupled by a pin and slot connection to the front blade.

The lever drives the front blade to a positionlopening the light path and then the overcenter springmoves the rear blade to 'aposition closing the light path. During the travel'of the front blade, the blade contacts' a contact of a flash unit to start current to ay flash bulb, and f then near the end of the travel of the front blade, they front blade moves a flash latch to move the contact out of .engagement therewith. The shutter is cocked by"r `17 of leather or plastic also are provided on the members 20fand 24. The .tunnel 15 supports viewfinder lenses 18 and 19 therein.

The casing member 24 and the wall 21 form a film vcompartment 25 open at the bottom and are securedx .together by screws 26. A bottom plate or cover 27 of cast metal is removably secured to the casing members 20 and 24 with a light trapping joint 28 formed therebetween. To lock the bottom cover 27 to the casing rnembersf2'0 and 24, a hook 29 is swung over a pin 30 on the wall 21 by a cam 3l (FIG. 7) formed ona man-ually operable knob 32. The hook 29` is pivotally mounted on a pin 33 mounted on a lilm holding frame 34. The hook has integral therewith a cross arm 29a from which project a spring follower arm 29b and a rigid follower arm 29e, both follower arms being integral with the cross arm and body portion of the hook 29 which is formed of Sheet metal. Both follower armsengage the end or face cam 31 with the arm 29b being resilient. The knob 32 is limited to one-half a turn relative to the cover 27 by a projection 32a on the knob 32 and shoulder 27a and 27b at the end of a groove 27e` n the cover 27. The hook makes a wedge fit with the pin 30 which is directly above the pin 33 sothatpulling downwardly on The bottom cover 27 also carries( rotatably a film-A winding knob 40 keyed to disc 41 and spool seat 42, and a one-Way spring 43 permits rotation of the elements 40, 41and 42 only in a nlm-winding direction. The seat 42 receives va takeup spool 44 in keyed relationship, and the spool 44 is held on the seat byra forkedspring clip 45 riveted to the frame and also holding a film `supply spool o 46 on a yfixed spool seat 47 molded integrally with the frame 34. The disc 41 has a cam slot 41a formed therein fitting over a pin y48a (FIG. 6) of a resetting or cock- Patented Feb. 13, 1962 aosasia ing lever-43' pivotally mounted by screw 49 on the bottom cover 27;

As cest illustrated in FIGS. 3, 6 and 7, lm 51 from supply spool 46 extends along a guide 34o of the spool holder or frame 3d and covers the back of a framing aperture or opening: 34h. rIhe spool holder 34 is preferably composed of a hard, tough molded plastic material, and has upright recessed members 34h and 34i. Corner guide portions 34e define the upper edge of the guideway 34e while a lower ledge 341 defines the lower edge of the guideway 34a.

` Asillustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the rear casing 24 has secured thereto a leaf spring member 35 which engages and presses a curved presser plate 36 to the iight to gently urge the lrn against the spool holder frame'34 and retain the film in the guideway 34C in the frame 34. This action places the iilm precisely in the focal plane for exposure. Also, the plate 36 has a lower sloping or camming por tion 36e to guide the spool holder into the rear chamber formed by the casing mail 2,4 and the wall 21. To facilitate the entrance. of the spool holderV into this rear chamber the4 lower portions of aitubular. or iiange portion 21d of the form` of, anl inverted U act as vertical guide rails which are received loosely in vertical guide grooves 34k as best illustrated in FIG. 3.

The framing or focal plane aperture 34h is at the back end of a tubular light passage 34g which extends at. its

forward end into the three-sidedtubular portion 21d ofY the vertical wallzi. The tubular portion 2101V has top and side wallsand is open at the bottom. 'l`he portion 21d projects from a tubular light aperture 21e. T he light aperture v21e projects forwardly of the wall 21to a plane near a rear lens 55 of the optical objectiveV of` the camera which also includes a front lens 56. For exposure-of the frame of the lm 51 at the framing aperture 34b, the light travels through the lenses 56 and 55 and through tbetunnel defined by the tubular portions 21e and 34g.

In order to locate the spool holder 34 in a position suchA that the film 51 is in the focal plane of the objective: when the spool holder 34 and the base 27 `are inserted into'the camera, alocating pin 61 (FIG. 12) enters a hole 21j in a ledge 21g. The pin 61 precisely locatesl the bottom plate or base 27 relative to the lenses 55 and 56, and to locate the spool holder 34 relative to the lenses 55 and 56 so that the Iilm is in the focal plane ofthe lenses, the spool holder is secured to the bottom plate 27 for adjustment forward and back during the assembly of these elements by screws 63 (FIG. 13) threadedv into the spool holder and projecting through slotsf 64 in thebottom plate 27. The slots extend parallel to the light path and permit the spool holder to be adjusted during manufacture to precisely` locate the lm plane at' the focal plane, after whichzthe screws 63 are tightened'to lock the spool holder in adjusted position.

A shutter assembly 71 (FIGS. 1 land 3) is assembled as a unit, and is secured to bosses 21g by screws 72- threaded into tapped bores in a mounting plate 73. A lens mount 74l secures the lens 55 in an opening 73a in the plate '73', the lens mount 74 being fastened by rivets 75 (FIG. 5) to the mounting plate and being spaced slightly from the tubularrportion 21e ofthe wall 21. An overcenter shutter mechanism includes a front or shutter blade 76 pivoted on a pin 77 riveted to the plate 73 and a rear or cover blade 78 pivoted on a pin 79 riveted to the plate 73 at a point closer to the lens 55 than the location of the pin 77, the plate 73 having forwardly projecting embossmentsv 73a (FIGS. 3 and 4) spacing the blade 78 from the front face of the plate 73 and the blade 76 slightly in front' of or over the blade 7S. A third forwardly projecting embossment 73b with a rivet 79 mounts an actuating and resetting or cooking lever 80 in front of the front shutter blade 76. The upper end of the lever S (FIGS. l and 1l) is slotted at 80a to connect the lever to the blade 76 through a headed pin 81 xed to the Vyond its open position.

blade 76. A finger @0b (FIG. 5) of the lever 80 extends below the lower edge of the plate 73 and has a latching face C and a sloped or cam face 80d. A strong torsion spring 82 bears at one end against a tab 80e (FIG. l) of the lever 80 and the other end of the spring 82 bears against a forwardly projecting tab 73m. The spring 32 urges the lever 80 in la counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG.V l.

The shutter is shown in its cocked or reset position in FIG. l in which a trigger or latching finger 91a of a lever 91 is engaged by a finger or tab 76a of the front shutter blade 76 and prevents counterclockwise rotation of the blade 76. The tab 76a projects through arcuate slot 73g in the mounting plate 73. In this position, a tension spring 92-connected to a tab 76b of the blade 7 6 and a pin 93 fixed to the blade 7 urges the blade 78 in a clockwise direction against a tab 73th of the mounting plate 73. In this position, the lever 80 also presses against a tab 94a of latching arm 94 (FIG. 5) to hold the arm 94 out of latching engagement with a tab 91h of the lever 91. The arm94 is mounted on stud 95 fixed to the plate 73 and a spring 96 urges the arm" 94 clockwise, as viewed in FIG. 5. The lever 91 is mounted on stud 97 fixed to the plate 73. In the cocked position ofthe shutter, asafety shutter blade 98 mounted on stud 99 on-plate 73 is in a position covering completely the tubularportion21e (FIG. 2) of the wall 21 to prevent any entrance of light from the front compartment of the camera to the rear of the'wall 21. A bottom 20a (FIG. l) of the front. casing section is` provided to prevent passage of light downwardly from the front compartment of the camera. The bottom 20a has a notch 20b throughwhich the lower end 80h of the lever 80 projects.

To expose one frame of the film 51-,afront actuating plunger 101 is pressed to the left, as viewedY in FIG. 3, manually in aguideway 20c. The plunger pivots a camming arm 102 clockwise, as viewed in FIG. 14, to pivot a T-sbaped linking camY 103 counter-clockwise, the arms 102 and,` 103 being mounted on ears 104 and 105 of the mounting plate 73. The cam 1-03 presses against a tab 91b ofl the lever 91 and swings the lever 91 against the action of spring 106 in a clockwise direction as viewed n-FIG. 5. During therst portion. of this movement of the lever 91,I a pushing nger ,91C pushesy the resetting spring arm 48 down out of the path of the leverV 8017 and simultaneously swings the safety, shutter. blade 98 completely out ofthe light path through a link 107 connecting the shutter blade 98 and theY lever 91. Then the latching finger 91a istmoved. out of engagement with the tab 76a, and the spring-pressed actuating and resetting lever 80swings the blade- 76 rapidly from its cocked position as shown in FIG. 1 through'an intermediate position shown: in FIG. 8l tofitsexposingy or tripped position as shown in FIG. 9. As the blade 76 reaches the position thereof shown in FIG..S, it engages a spring contact finger 111 to connect terminal- 112.electrically to terminal 113 through the metallic blade 76, pin 77 and plate 73, the contact nger 111 being connected directly to the terminal 112 and mounted in insulated position relative to the terminal 113. This completes a circuit to a ash attachment (not shown) of known construction to start the ash. Then, While the flash is starting to build up, the blade 76 swings on to its open position, the ear 104 acting as a stop to limit movement of the blade 76 be- Just before the blade 76 is stopped byf the tab 76a engaging-the end of the slot 73g, a tab 76d swings a cam 1140i electrical insulating material onstud V on plate 73 from the position of the cam 114 shown in FIG. 8 to that shown in FIG. 10. The cam 114-`moves from an overcenter position in which the spring 111` engages a tlat 114a of the cam 114 to a second overcenter position in which flat 114b engages the spring 111 and holds the spring 111` out of tbe path of the blade 76r whenv the blade is moved back toits reset or cocked position, thus preventing accidental ring of 'a flash bulb inserted before resetting the shutter. It will be noted that lobe-like contacting edge 76e of the blade is of a suicient' length that the blade 76 keeps in contact with the contact 111 until the tab 76d engages depending arm 114e to move the contact 111 to a withdrawn position. This insures a sufiicient duration of contact between the contact 111 and the blade 76 to lire the i'lash bulb. To prevent accidental contact of the contact 111 with the plate 73 while retaining substantial width of the contacting portion of the contact 111, a sheet 121 of electrical insulating material is fixed to the front face of the yplate 73 to separate the plate and contact.

Shortly after the start of movement of the blade 76 in its exposing movement, the blade moves the tab 76b thereof and an end of the tension spring 92from the positions thereof shown in FIG. i overcenter to the positions thereof shown in FIG. 8. In the latter positions, the spring 92 urges rear shutter blade 78 in a counterclockwise direction to tend to pull the blade 78 with the blade 76 which is'moved by the spring 82 and lever S0. However, due to inertia of the` blade 78, it does not move appreciably until the blade 76 has opened the light path, but by this time the tension on spring 92 has built up and rapidly swings the shutter blade 78 after the blade 76 to reclose the light path and come to rest in a position in which the stud 93 engages the tab 76d, the tab 76d serving as a rugged bumper to stop the blade 78 as illustrated in FIG. 9. The rear blade 78 overlaps the blade 76 at all times, and has an arcuate exposure slot 78a for exposing the lightfpath between the lenses 55 and 56.

As the blade 76 reaches the end of its exposing movement the lever 80 is moved away from the latching arm 94 (FIG. 5) and the arm 94 moves against the tab 91b. Then, after the user of the camera releases the pushbutton or plunger 101 (FIG. 14), the spring 106 (FIG. 5) pulls the link 107 up to move the lever 91 up and a latching shoulder 94h moves into the path of tab `91h of the lever 91 to prevent actuating movement of the arm lever v91. The lever 107 also moves the safety shutter 98 back intoposition covering the entrance to the tunnel or lighty path y21e (FIG. 2) and moves the pushbutton 101 (FIG. 14) back to its reset position. However, atthis time,

s movement of the pushbutton 101 is prevented by the latcharm 94 so that the user of the camera will be apprised when attempting to push the pushbutton/ 101 that the iilm 51 must be moved to present unexposed lm to the framing aperture 31. Also, at this time, the safety shutter 98 cannot be moved away from its position blocking the opening 21e in the wall 21.

To reset the shutter mechanism and release the pushbutton 101, the film must be wound to present an unexposed frame of the iilm at the framing aperture 34h. To

6 the blade 78 therewith, the spring 92 being moved overcenter near the end of the movement of the blade 78-so that the blade 78 is not pulled ahead of the blade 76 until the blade 76 has completely covered the light path. Also,

during the resetting operation, the lever 80 engages the tab 94a and moves the latching arm 94 back out of latching position relative to the .lever 91 (FIG. 5). The camera then may be used to take another picture.

While the invention is thus described, it is not wished to be limited to the precise details described, as changes may be readily madev without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. In a flash camera, a spring contact member having a contact portion and urged toward an operative position and movable to an inoperative position, a cam member of electrical insulation having a first l'lat thereon and a second dat thereon, the cam member having an operating arm and movable between a rst position in which the contact member engages the first flat and is held thereby in its operative position and a second position in which the contact member engages the second flat and is held thereby in its inoperative position, and conductive shutter blade means movable from a retracted position through an exposure stroke to an actuated position and a return stroke and adapted to contact the contact portion of the contact member when the contact portion is in the operative position thereof, the shutter blade means having a tab for engaging the operating arm to move the cam member to the second position thereof near the end of the exposure stroke and a second tab for engaging the operating arm to move the arm to the first position thereof after the y blade means has been moved in its return stroke beyond the contact portion.

2.y In a dash camera, an electroconductive shutter blade movable through an exposure stroke from a retracted position to an actuated position and through a return stroke back to the retracted position thereof and having an actuating tab and a resetting tab, a leaf spring contact transport the film, the knob 40 is irned andindicia on` I the back of .the lm is noted through filter 131 (FiG. 2) to apprise the user when'the film is wound sufficiently. To wind the' film one frame or picture length, the knob 40 must be turned through at least one revolution, and on each revolution thereof, thecocking lever`4` 48 is reciprocated twice. Sometimeduring` the frstfreciprocation of the lever 48, the` lever 48 moves into engagement with the face k80e of the lever 80, and then the lever 48 swings the lever 80 from the position thereof shown in FIG. 11 clockwise tothe position of the lever shown in FIG. 1. The lever 80 in so moving swings the blade-76 back from the position ,ofthe blade 76 shown invFIG. 11 to the cocked or resetv position thereof shown in FIG. 1, and the tab 76a snaps over a cam portion of the iinger 91a and is latched in that cocked position by the finger 91a.

' As the blade 76 is reset, it engages the stud 93 and moves biased toward a contacting position in the path of the blade as the blade moves through its exposure and return strokes, and a cam member of insulating material movable by the actuating tab of the blade near the end of the actuating stroke from a first position to a second position and movable by the resetting tab of the blade near the end of the return stroke from the second position to the rst position, the cam member having afirst at against which the spring contact bears when the cam is in the first position thereof and the spring contact is in the contacting position thereof, the cam also being provided with a second flat for engaging the spring ,contact when the cam is in the second position thereof, the cam when in the second position thereof serving to hold the spring contact out of the path of the shutter blade.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATESUPAVTENTS 2,807,990 A Perlin Oct. 1, 1957 

